Response ID 310,136,770
Incident number 1044
Date: 16.11.24
Site: On the path across the fields between Long Dale and Weaddow Lane near Elton, Derbyshire. Peak District National Park – Derbyshire Dales District Council. ///potential.comic.clusters SK 19246 60923
Type of cow: Group of Cows and bullocks. 2 walkers, dogs on lead.
Helen’s report: “The cows were in a large group near the footpath gate into the field. There was a feeder near by and some were eating from it. We entered the field with our three dogs on leads and kept to the footpath by the wall to go round the cows. They started coming towards us and we spread our arms wide and shouted for them to go away. They then charged towards my sister and her two dogs and pinned her against the wall. My dog had an orange coat on and they didn’t seem interested in her but, lead by two aggressive cows the others started jumping up on their back legs and surrounded my sister and her dogs. One cow head-butted her twice and was stamping its front legs trying to get to her dogs who were hiding behind her legs.
She started screaming and I ran back and shouted at the cows who did run back a bit. We quickly let all the dogs off the leads and I picked up my dog and she picked up her old dog. The cows then all started charging towards us and her young dog ran off down the path. The herd of at least 30 cows (who we think were bullocks but can’t be sure as we were in shock at the time) all charged off after her dog at full pelt. We followed down the hill as fast as we could to try and get to her dog, who is less than a year old. After about half a mile the cows all ran up across the field and my sister checked her dog tracker and saw the dog was ahead of us and had run up to the top of the field. She whistled her dog and it ran back to her. I had gone through a gate down the footpath track and she passed me her dog over the fence and walked back up to the gate to come down the path. We weren’t injured but at one point I did think the cows were going to kill my sister. She was so upset thinking they were going to kill her dog, and then worried that the dog had run off and would be lost and traumatised.
The dog that the cows were trying to get to was quite traumatised and was shaking like a leaf when we retrieved her.
I haven’t yet reported this incident but I am going to look at reporting it to the ramblers association and The Local Authority as we are very concerned that it could have caused very serious injury and could happen again to someone else.”
Tag: dogs
Dartmoor common land stand off with cow
Incident number: 998
Response ID: 307,430,357
Date of incident: 17.09.24
Location: Dartmoor Nearest village: Gidleigh (What three words careful.showrooms.studio)
Status: Two people with dog on lead on PRW
Anonymous report “We were on a footpath on a remote part of Dartmoor a couple of miles away from Scorhill stone circle, just to the north west of Rival Tor. We had previously passed 2 groups of black cows without incident. We saw the cow ahead, not far from the path. It started running aggressively towards us. My husband stood firm and bellowed at it, also waving his walking stick. I walked on with our dog still on a short lead while there was a stand-off between my husband and the cow. The cow started to shake its head which we knew was a sign of danger. Worried it was about to charge him, my husband started to walk away at which point it started running around towards me. I had let the dog off at this point as thought this was best. Luckily the cow stopped and there was another standoff. Fortunately it then lost interest as we walked away. It was particularly frightening as there was nowhere for us to escape to – no hedge, no stream, no gully, just open featureless moorland.”
Further thoughts “There was a sign by the car park from the Gidleigh Commoners Association. FOR YOUR SAFETY PLEASE KEEP YOUR DISTANCE FROM ALL CATTLE ESPECIALLY WITH CALVES – went on to give more info about precautions and danger signs, the final advice was, amid danger signs eg cows shaking heads and pawing ground “to retire as calmly and quickly as possible” and then “if a cow actually offers (sic) to attack you let any dog off the lead and the cow may focus interest on the dog while you retreat calmly” The problem is – where do you retreat to in open moorland where there are no fences/boundaries???”
“I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time”
Report No: 928
Date of Incident: 25/07/24
Location: Newdigate, Surrey, England
Account “I was crossing a field on my own (female 64, very fit) with 2 spaniel dogs on short leads on a footpath. I knew there were cows in the field, couldn’t see a bull, there were some calves but not particularly young, probably about 15-20 cows. I tried to keep as far away from the cows as possible but they started to follow me and gradually caught me up and began to surround me. I let go of the dogs which ran off but the cows did not follow them. One cow pushed me to the ground with its nose and then three or four others joined in head butting me. I curled up in a ball trying to protect myself and stayed still hoping they would lose interest which they did after a while and moved away to a different part of the field.
Continue reading ““I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time””Christina had 40 horned cattle charging at her
Report number:900
Date of incident: 3/7/24
Site of incident: The field near Warlies in Waltham Abbey
Report: We were aware there are cows in this field with baby’s but I have done this walk for years with no problems.
Two of us were walking, we couldn’t see the cows as we began, we always give them a wide birth, the dog was on a long lead but all of a sudden as we came down the hill the cows were in view. They were a large herd, with calves, cows (with horns) and heifers. I put the dog on a short lead. We stopped looked at the cows, they were just looking, and so we carried on walking as we’ve always done.
All of a sudden about 40 of them ran at us full speed. We ran as fast as we could and jumped into a tiny fenced off area, no bigger than 2m squared. It was a small barbed wire square around a tree. All of them swarmed us butting their heads at the fences and waving their horns around. I have never been so terrified in all my life, at one point I thought we might have to climb the tree. If we made any noise the cows just got more aggressive and loud so we had to stay quiet, they didn’t leave us.
We were stuck in there for a nearly an hour and had to call police to come and rescue us. I can’t believe we actually made it out, only with a few cuts of barbed wire, it was the most petrifying thing I have ever experienced.
I did see a sign that said to be aware of cattle and keep your dog close.
Sam’s story: There is no reason for so many cows to be on footpaths!
Incident number: 895
Response ID: 304,260,052
Date: 27.06.24
Location: Two locations near Youlgreave Derbyshire What three words ///point.proclaims.poppy ///distilled.regaining.jukebox
First field had large group of 30 plus cows with calves in the fields surrounding the gate of a popular footpath. We were four people with dogs on leads. Attempted to walk through the gate cows came forward we avoided took a detour over a wall into a different field. Second location no safe route through at all. Every field full of cows. Popular footpath again. Attempted to walk through 40 plus cows charged us. Dogs barked to scare them off they backed off slightly we progressed cows charged at us again. This happened 4 times before we got out of the field.
Cows and calves!
Incident number: 870
Date of incident: 27.05.24
Site: Between Boscubben and Trendrine Farm on the footpath between Zennor and St. Ives in Cornwall
We were a group of 3 adults and 4 dogs, we noticed cows with calves in the field ahead of us, so as we approached the field, we started to put the dogs on leads.
One cow charged to the front very aggressively. We tried to circumnavigate the field, with the herd following us round being very frisky. The cattle were too aggressive so we had to give up and double back.
I am not risk averse, but to proceed would have been foolhardy. A dogless couple aborted an attempt just after we had tried, but succeeded after we had left the scene suggesting the dogs were the spark for the cow’s aggression.
We were not injured but badly frightened.
Killer Cows comment: The Health and Safety Executive strongly suggests that farmers do not put cows with calves in fields where footpaths pass through. HSE recognise the risk and English law states that farmers have a duty of care towards those who walk across their land.
This occurred in an area where there are many walkers, surely there should be clear signage to an alternative cattle-free route if the farmer cannot manage to fence off the footpath.
Glyn Austin’s tale – Attack on Welsh Coastal Path
My story begins on September 1 2023. At about eleven in the morning I set out to walk along a stretch of the Wales Coast Path between Kidwelly and Pembrey in Carmarthenshire.
Whilst walking along what is known locally as Bank y Lord, I noticed that the path was blocked by cattle – a mixture of adults and young. I had two dogs with me and knowing that dogs can spook cattle with their young, I dropped down from the bank on to the muddy flood plain and took a wide ‘walking arc’ around the cattle.
290,433,379 incident 778
Glyn Austin’s tale
My story begins on September 1 2023. At about eleven in the morning I set out to walk along a stretch of the Wales Coast Path between Kidwelly and Pembrey in Carmarthenshire (OS Explorer Map 178 402/047).
Whilst walking along what is known locally as Bank y Lord, I noticed that the path was blocked by cattle – a mixture of adults and young. I had two dogs with me and knowing that dogs can spook cattle with their young, I dropped down from the bank on to the muddy flood plain and took a wide ‘walking arc’ around the cattle – even though in a sense I had the right of way! Both dogs were on their leads and were quiet. It was not easy walking on the boggy ground but it had to be done to avoid the cattle.
As my ‘walking arc’ went past the cattle they suddenly charged towards me. I expected them to stop but the animals knocked me over. I tried to get up a couple of times, but was butted to the ground and then trampled. (I’d let go of my dogs by then but this did not stop the cattle from attacking me.) I thought I was going to die and decided to play dead…..the cattle seemed to lose interest then.
Some men working on a sluice gate further along the bank heard my dogs barking and came to investigate. The men made comfortable, phoned for an ambulance and arranged for one of their number to care for the dogs. The Wales Air Ambulance from Dafan was on the spot within minutes along with a police officer. The doctor on the air ambulance team suspected my having internal injuries and I was airlifted to The University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff. On arrival I was scanned and x-rayed and found to have five broken ribs and bruising – with thankfully no damage to internal organs. I was kept in hospital for six nights until the trauma ward were happy that I could breathe and keep my lungs clear.
Reporting my attack
I came home from hospital on Thursday 7 September. Since then I have contacted the police officer who attended the scene. The officer reported that he had contacted the owner of the cattle and had been assured that this had not happened before. I was advised that the incident was a civil matter.
I also contacted Natural Resources Wales NRW to report the incident. NRW asked me if they could share the incident with the HSE (Health and Safety Executive) and the local authority. Prompted by the NRW a warden who covers the Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire parts of the Wales Coast Path got in touch with me to emphasise the importance of my reporting the incident to the HSE.
I contacted the HSE and was informed that the owner of the land/cattle had a duty to report the incident to them under statutory RIDDOR regulations (Reporting of Injuries, Disease and Dangerous Occurrences), but no one had informed HSE of my attack prior to me contacting them.
“it is not unusual for people to be admitted to hospital with injuries inflicted by cattle!”
Sadly, on the very same day of my accident it was reported that a woman was killed by cattle whist walking her dogs on a bridle path near Welshpool in Mid Wales.
Staff at the Trauma Unit at UHW where I was treated says that it is not unusual for people to be admitted to hospital with injuries inflicted by cattle.
In conclusion.
The Wales Coast Path is a national asset with its own website which promotes the path. So, why are cattle allowed to roam on the footpath? I feel very strongly about this. I almost died. It could have been a child or somebody infirm who was attacked and killed. Surely something needs to be done to prevent cattle from having direct access to one of Wales’ most prestigious tourist routes.
Paula’s Story: chased by Belted Galloway cattle
Lucky to escape alive… charged by cows in a country park.
On the 3rd of April 2021, my friend and I were walking our dogs on leads in Hastings Country park. A group of belted Galloway cattle were all mingling around a gate. We saw them up ahead, way before they saw us, so we slowly turned around and started walking slowly back down the hill.
Continue reading “Paula’s Story: chased by Belted Galloway cattle”Narrowly missed being trampled
The cows were running fast and straight at us.
On the 26th August, 2022, I took my dogs out on our regular walk. I was walking on the old railway line just outside of Trevor (LL20) and going towards Llangollen, in Wales. The railway line links to a road which goes towards the canal.
Continue reading “Narrowly missed being trampled”Beverley’s story: knocked down by a cow
I could hear my partner shouting, “Get to your feet.”
On the 11th October, 2015, we were walking along a public footpath near Scouts Dike, Penistone in South Yorkshire, with our dogs on a lead.
Continue reading “Beverley’s story: knocked down by a cow”A Scared 60 Year Old: chased across a field.
I had nowhere to go, with a 5 ft hawthorn hedge behind me.
On the 30th of May, 2022, I was walking my dogs on a lead along a public right of way, between the village and Dalton (map reference DL11 7EX). It was 8:30am.
Continue reading “A Scared 60 Year Old: chased across a field.”Sarah’s Story: my dogs were chased by a herd of cows.
I was terrified, and couldn’t find my dog anywhere.
On the 1st June, 2022, I was walking on a public footpath on Hob Moor, near Acomb, with my two small dogs on a lead. A herd of cows came towards me, and I let my dogs off the lead.
Continue reading “Sarah’s Story: my dogs were chased by a herd of cows.”
Cattle Safety 